


we sank already but we're holding on

by SheepySeconds



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Gen, Ghost pirates, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Sibling Love, rapidly switches between angst and comedy as one does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:08:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepySeconds/pseuds/SheepySeconds
Summary: Apparently, Fubuki Tenjoin has a sister, a fact that Jun Manjoume's crew didn't know until they were at shore and met her. This should, Shou would like to note, be rather impossible for a number of reasons, but as the quartermaster, he's going to try to corral everyone to deal with it anyway. This is just his life generally.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8
Collections: Yu-Gi-Oh! It's Time to G-G-G-Gift! [Mini-Exchange]





	we sank already but we're holding on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RustedWireWitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RustedWireWitch/gifts).



It starts like this: The Dread Captain Manjoume, Thunder of the High Seas, Most Feared Pirate Captain of the Carribean, Terrifying and Magnificent He, was left on shore alone for about ten minutes, long enough to manage to get out of sight of the ship’s quartermaster.

Everyone involved could agree: this was a very bad move in general and shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Shou nervously looks around the island they’ve stopped on. It is, at least, a pretty typical pirate docking place. The presence of the navy was next to none here, always had been, so if Jun started loudly talking about piracy, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. If he got drunk, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. He wouldn’t suddenly start agreeing to any of the ideas Judai got while stir-crazy, wouldn’t badly try to pick up the first person who showed signs of being able to kick his ass, and he wouldn’t accidentally get all of them nearly arrested by bragging. And even if he did those things, he’d be surrounded by other pirates, so it would be fine. It would be fine!

God, Shou hated being the only sensible one on this boat.

The worst part of it is that when Jun goes missing, the rest of the crew takes the opportunity to be idiots as well. And, well, Shou didn’t fully mind the quiet for a bit. Someone had to keep track of money and treasure and supplies and all the stolen goods and it was really, really hard to take inventory when the first mate likes to come down and ask you if pasta is technically a sandwich or Kenzan discovers bones he thinks belong to a dinosaur or -

Anxiety, your name is Shou Marufuji. 

The main problem is that he doesn’t like being alone for more than about ten minutes, even if it means he’s getting his work done better, because listen, that means that everyone else is doing things that  _ he can’t see. _ Things that  _ he can’t see _ are worse. Last time they were able to do things he couldn’t see for too long they got into a minor war and their ship can’t take that much more canon fire, okay, it just can’t. They don’t have the money to afford more patches. They are the world’s most broke pirates and everyone is afraid of them for no reason.

Shou wanders through the city nervously. It starts to rain, thunder rolling. Shou starts walking faster. Jun’s probably at the closest bar. Kenzan is probably off telling ridiculous stories and eating, but doesn’t typically drink like Jun does, so he’s probably found somewhere that sells good meat and is wasting all his money. Fubuki is almost certainly either picking up girls or badly gambling. Judai is either getting his ass kicked for being too  _ good _ at gambling or off on some hair-brained scheme and -

Oh. There he is. Judai comes running down the street like a man possessed. Sometimes it’s very hard to remember that Judai is first mate and the ship’s most terrifying fighter, because when he runs like this, he’s all too-long limbs and pure energy.

“SHOU!” shouts Judai. “SHOU! SHOU! DID YOU KNOW THAT FUBUKI HAS A  _ SISTER? _ ”

Oh.

* * *

There’s some effort made, when Fubuki is actually bothering to do the navigation job properly, for the crew of the Black Storm to avoid other pirates when possible. Part of it is by reputation. Jun and Judai together is a combination that even the most cocky of pirates, like that Ed guy, know better than to deal with. Part of it is sensibility. Last time that Kenzan talked to the Crocodile King Jim, they nearly started a war over some bizarre reptile instinct Shou didn’t want to think about too hard. Part of it is…

...the crew of the Black Storm is happy the way it is. They have a skeleton crew most of the time. A number of the pirates on board get hired on and off based on how broke they were, but Jun, Judai, Kenzan, Fubuki, and Shou had their reasons to be sticking together on the high seas. They had their reasons for only stopping in civilized society when they were well and truly out of supplies. They weren’t supposed to be around people unless they were robbing them blind, really. There were so many reasons it hurt to explain.

The only stronger rule was that they were supposed to avoid family. Their course was expertly charted to avoid ever having to dock where Jun’s brothers could be robbing people far more legally, where Judai’s parents could ask after him, or where Shou’s brother -

He hadn’t known Fubuki had a sister at all.

* * *

Judai tells him the story in rapid-fire, excited babble. It goes something like this: Jun Manjoume in a bar, bragging about how even storms listen to him at sea. A lady with a sword walking in and scoffing. Jun challenging her to, of all things, arm wrestling. The lady with the sword winning handily. 

The lady with the sword then revealing she has a saber because she’s a goddamn privateer and you’re gonna want to go with her, sir, you’ve been wanted for about half of a century.

(Shou groans loudly at this point. “She brought it up?” Judai nods solemnly.)

Jun says, excuse you, he’s not a day over twenty-five and he can prove it, damnit, fight him like a man. The lady with the sword points out that she’s not, in fact, a man, but that Jun’s not acting much like one either. Jun pulls a sword. Most of the sensible pirates, thieves, and general layabouts of the city have long fled the scene. The ones who stay behind were at this point apparently whispering about Asuka and her apparent battle prowess, how she came out of nowhere one day and she was feared by everyone with two brain cells. 

(“So not any of you all.” “ _ Shou _ . My dearest little brother. Please _. _ ”)

It starts raining. The Dread Captain Manjoume challenges the deadliest woman on the high seas to a sword fight. They’re actually decently evenly matched at first, the rain falling in sheets between them, the fight hard to see. Thunder rolls. Then, Jun is on the floor with a blade to his throat!

(Judai waves his hands for emphasis. He’s very emphatic about the fight. He cannot focus on any one aspect of the fight long enough for Shou to have any idea what actually happened, but he gets somewhere close enough to understand that Jun lost. Which is… actually unusual, even when Jun was being a braggart. The only person less likely to lose a fight was telling Shou the story right now.)

Suddenly, Fubuki walks into the fight. He stares between his captain and the lady. (Judai’s eyes get a bit dimmer as he tells this part.)

And Fubuki says: “Asuka?”

And Asuka says: “Big brother?”

Judai, who’d been on the sides, four seconds away from slitting Asuka’s throat and fleeing with Jun, had fallen off of the windowsill he’d been sitting on, and had barely caught himself before righting himself properly. Here he tells the worst, most telling part of the story: “Shou, Asuka couldn’t have been - Asuka looked the age we do.”

“How’s Jun?” Shou asks.

“Not great”, Judai says. “He got his  _ ass _ kicked. Shou, Fubuki’s sister kicks  _ ass _ . Why is she a privateer? That’s absolutely the worst thing she could be! She has to make the fact she kicks ass lame.” Judai kicks the ground.

“I didn’t know he had a sister,” Shou says.

“Neither did I,” says Judai. “Thought you were the only one who’d had any family who gave a shit.” Shou looks away for a moment.

“Where are they now?”

“Fubuki said something about taking her back to the ship and yelling.”

Shou nods. He sighs. “Do you know where Kenzan is? If we’re doing this, we need to get all of us in one place, probably.”

“Do I have to?” says Judai. “I just… can I please go beat some idiots at poker first?” His voice is oddly quiet for that moment. It’s easy to forget that forces of nature are vulnerable too.

Shou considers for a moment. “I’m coming with you,” he says. “I want a chance to get a break too now and again, you know, Aniki?”

“Okay,” says Judai, brightly, and his eyes glow like stars in the night sky. Shou follows him and forces himself to relax for a few moments. Shou can cause a little chaos from the background, too, and lay the stones they’re going to need for their escape later. He’s not going to step between whatever’s happening between Fubuki and his sister. He doesn’t want to even  _ touch _ that until Fubuki’s ready.

* * *

Fubuki had taken Shou by the hand and pointed to the ghost ship in the harbor. 

“I’m sorry,” Shou had said to Ryo, and Ryo had smiled, pained and quiet.

“I’m proud of you,” says Ryo. “Even if we don’t see each other again. And, Fubuki?” Fubuki had looked up, and it had been one of those moments where he looked more like the sharp-eyes dragon made of bones and curses than the fun-loving flirt he was most of the time. “I… I’m…”

“I know,” Fubuki had said.

“I’d come with you,” Ryo said to both of them.

“Don’t,” Shou had said. “Don’t. I didn’t do this just so you’d follow us.”

“I know,” Ryo said, and then Shou and Fubuki had left, and as the ship had left, it was the only time Shou had let himself start screaming crying, because it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. It would save Ryo, but it wasn’t fair. Fubuki had held him, quiet, as they left, and Shou hadn’t even thought to ask if Fubuki understood, hadn’t thought to ask if Fubuki had once pulled out his heart and left it on the mainland to protect someone he loved.

Fifty years pass and they don’t get any older. 

Shou hadn’t known Fubuki had a sister.

* * *

Kenzan has gotten into a fight, which, you know what, Shou should have anticipated. His teeth and fists are bloody, and the guy he’s fighting looks equally excited. People are betting on it. Judai almost bets on it. Shou squeezes Judai’s hand  _ really hard _ . 

“Of course he found a fight club!” says Judai, excited.

“Of course he found a fight club,” says Shou, exhausted.

Judai blends effortlessly into the crowd, bloodthirsty and bright, and starts gambling on the fights even though he should really know better. They’ll be kicked out and Shou still won’t have gotten the calming influence of being the only one of them who still had normal luck at poker because Judai will have gotten them accused of cheating by betting on fights instead. For once it’d even be  _ accurate _ , because they both knew Kenzan was tougher than any of the guys they could send against him.

Then again, maybe it was obvious? It wasn’t cheating if they weren’t rigging anything, right?

Shou needed to get Kenzan out of there before he got them into more trouble, but instead he finds himself slipping into the crowd, while Judai alternates between bets on Kenzan and his eerie ability to pick the winning fighter in every other fight also.

He sighs, pulling out a small parchment he’d written the usual excuses on. He starts saying them, spreading the rumors. No one ever seems to notice he’s reading off of a cue card. They really should think about that. Shou sighs and alters a few of the cues to cover for “fought a privateer in a spontaneous thunderstorm that apparently one of them was related to”, and pulls out the very standard form excuse for “we weren’t rigging the fights, you all were just bad.”

Shou pretends he doesn’t feel at least a  _ little _ pride when Kenzan wins another one of the very illegal and very bad-idea fights he’s doing in the middle of a dimly lit basement.

He listens. The story about Jun and Asuka is already spreading, although enough of the sort of people who cared fled before the fight finished going down, knowing enough about Jun and Asuka both to want out of the crossfire. That would make it easier to spin as ‘The Thunder of the High Seas already skedaddled’ instead of whatever was going on right now. Shou rubs his head.

Fuck it. He’s going to bet on the next fight too. He’ll just bet on whoever Judai picks, which makes it the easiest, most relaxing activity on the planet, but he just has to sit here turning off his brain for a bit longer. He wishes he drank the way Jun did. It’d probably make it easier. Unfortunately, one of them had to have brains, and Shou had been the one burdened with sensibility.

Judai cheers and Kenzan loses a tooth and Shou hears the fight club they managed to wander into start to recognize them.

Also, anxiety? Had he mentioned the anxiety?

Ten minutes later, they’re being chased out by an angry crowd, Judai and Kenzan are laughing, and Shou is acting indignant enough to pretend he’s not laughing too.

* * *

They get back to their ship and Asuka has white eyes and a hole in her chest while she stands on the wood of the Black Storm. Fubuki’s hands are shaking.

“We had our talk,” Fubuki says.

“Jun’s in medical?” asks Judai, instantly serious.

“Yeah.”

Asuka stares at them, and Kenzan bares his too-sharp teeth and Fubuki clenches a fist and Judai’s eyes glow like night stars.

“Can we help?” asks Judai, something heavy in his voice. “I mean, shit lady, I know you’re a privateer, but I didn’t think there were…”

“No,” says Asuka.

“Shit,” says Judai. “Shit.”

“It’s not the same as ours,” Fubuki says, and his hands are still shaking, and Shou hasn’t seen him look so much like a dragon or a demon in a very long time.

“Yeah,” says Judai.

“God,” says Asuka. “You all act like you haven’t seen a dead person before.”

“That’s what it is!” says Kenzan. “That makes sense! That makes way more sense than I thought it would!”

“Please shut up,” Shou says, rubbing his temples and watching Fubuki’s hands keep on shaking.

“We had our talk,” Fubuki says. 

“It’ll probably wear off in a few years at most,” Asuka says.

“Yeah?” says Judai, looking away.

“Yeah,” agrees Asuka. “Whatever they did to get me isn’t lasting long.”

“We could take you with us,” Fubuki says, suddenly, desperate. “We could take you with us. It wouldn’t last forever, I know, but you wouldn’t have to be a fucking privateer.”

“I prefer not being a criminal,” Asuka says, primly. “Just so you know, you better get out of harbor  _ tonight. _ I’m not giving you any more of a head start than that. I take my job seriously, even if they’re using undead to do it.”

Kenzan starts laughing hysterically all of a sudden, and the tension breaks as everyone looks at him to try to figure out what he finds so funny. 

“It’s just, it’s just - this is Fubuki’s sister? This? She takes her job seriously! She takes it seriously!” He keeps cackling, and then Judai’s cackling, and Shou’s sighing and Fubuki’s indignantly trying to defend his honor and Asuka just looks bemused and they all sort of collapse onto the empty deck of a ghost ship crewed by the cursed immortal and they’re so, so fucked, they’re all so fucked, Shou knows they are, but they’re laughing and Asuka is laughing too, and maybe it’s okay that Fubuki has a sister.

She stays with them after Jun wakes up. Shou realizes that she’s Jun’s type and despairs for getting rid of her for the next few years. He doesn’t actually  _ want _ to get rid of her, but watching Jun fail to flirt for however long it takes for her to… leave again… is going to be  _ painful _ . Then she leaves to the harbor, and they prepare to flee in the night. Shou thinks  _ one day _ might be a record for the length of time it took for them to be run out of town by the law.

Before Asuka leaves, she tells Shou: “He loves you and doesn’t blame you.”

And Shou believes her.

* * *

(The story goes something like this for all five of them:

The ocean is full of curses that you shouldn’t meddle with, but they didn’t know any better at that age.

The story goes something like this for Shou:

He wasn’t going to let his brother pay for his own stupidity.

The story goes something like this:

They may as well have each other.)

* * *

They lie in the captain’s quarters. Jun is complaining about his hangover. Kenzan and him are also comparing scars. Fubuki is looking out the window and bemoaning that his sister wouldn’t let him talk to any girls. Judai is playing with more money than Shou could have made by trading. They still basically don’t have food, because they got run out of town in a single day, Shou wants to make this as clear as humanly possible. Jun notes back that they don’t actually  _ die _ anyway, they’ll just steal provisions instead of treasure from the next merchant they chase down, aren’t you supposed to be the supplies guy anyway Shou?

Shou bemoans being him.

They look out onto the salt air and think about siblings a little longer, and then put it out of mind as Judai lays a hand on Shou’s shoulder.

It’ll be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> *nervously* i totally didn’t forge november only had 30 days as opposed to 31 until my own fic was revealed causing me to go “WELL FUCK” very loudly or anything. that’s not what happened. everything is fine.
> 
> anyway, GX PIRATE AU FUCK YEAH! FUCK YEAH. THAT’S SUCH A FUN IDEA AND I HOPE YOU LIKE WHAT I’VE DONE WITH IT even though, as usual for me, this went WILDLY off the rails and prompt somewhere midway through and i’m not sure it resembles what you originally imagined at all OH WELL GHOST PIRATES LETS GO,


End file.
